Death of Alexander the Great - death came at the end of a two-day feast.

709

Death of St. Aldhelm

735

Death of "The Venerable" Bede

1085

Death of St. Gregory VII, Pope, to the immense relief of Emperor Henry IV

1085

Alfonso VI, King of Leon, takes Toledo

1184

Glastonbury Abbey, England, destroyed by fire

1261

Death of Pope Alexander IV

1315

Edward Bruce invades Ireland

1498

The Venice movable type publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, having produced movable type for printing music, applied for what today we would call the patent.

1502

Columbus discovered Martinique

1521

Edict of Worms

1555

Death of Henry II, King of Navarre

1559

First Protestant synod in France meets in Paris

1571

Founding of Barinas, Venezuela

1571

Election of Stephen Bathory as Prince of Transylvania

1583

Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley converse with spirits

1650

Hanging of Montrose, in Edinburgh

1787

The first regular session of the Constitutional Convention was held at Independence Hall in Philadelphia after enough delegates had shown up for a quorum.

1793

Father Stephen Theodore Badin became the first Roman Catholic priest to be ordained in the United States, in a ceremony in Baltimore.

1810

Argentina began its revolt against Spain.

1844

The first telegraphed news dispatch, sent from Washington DC to Baltimore, appeared in the Baltimore "Patriot."

1844

Stuart Perry of New York City patented the gasoline engine.

1869

The grand opera house in Vienna was opened. The emperor Franz Joseph made a low-key criticism of its forbidding appearance not a serious or heartfelt attack, just a mild jab only to have one architect collapse of a heart attack and another commit suicide.

1889

Igor Sikorsky, developer of a working helicopter, born

1895

Playwright Oscar Wilde was convicted of a morals charge in London; he was sentenced to prison. "The Ballad of Reading Gaul," was inspired by the time he spent in prison.

1895

James P. Lee first published "Gold in America -- A Practical Manual." It is said to be the first book about regular folks finding gold.

1921

Lyricist Hal David .He and Burt Bacharach wrote dozens of hits together born

The Return of the Jedi, the third installment of George Lucas' Star Wars movie trilogy, opened nationwide. The movie topped all previous opening day box office records with a gross of $6,219,629.

1983

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Albert Schaufelberger, a U.S. military attach in San Salvador, was slain by the guerrilla group FMLN.

1984

CIA Director William Casey dismissed as "politically motivated" a House subcommittee report that he had obtained briefing materials from President Carter's 1980 re-election campaign.

1984

The Detroit Tigers tied the 1916 New York Giants as they won their 17th road game, beating the California Angels 5-1. That game broke the American League mark of 16 held by the Washington Senators from 1912.

1985

More than 11,000 people were killed as a hurricane and tidal wave devastated Bangladesh.

1985

CBS Radio began network baseball coverage for the first time in 25 years as Brent Musberger called the play-by-play for the Los Angeles Dodgers-New York Mets game.

1986

5 to 7 million people formed a broken 4000-mile human chain from Los Angeles to New York in Hands Across America, to benefit the nation's homeless. The event raised $24.5 million.

1987

A jury in New York acquitted former Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan and seven other construction executives of fraud and grand larceny.

1988

President Reagan departed the White House on a trip to the Soviet Union and a superpower summit with Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

1989

The Calgary Flames won their first Stanley Cup by defeating the Montreal Canadiens in game six of their championship series by a score of 4-to-2.

1990

A congressional report cast doubts on the U.S. Navy's official finding that a troubled sailor probably had caused the blast that killed 47 servicemen aboard the battleship USS Iowa

1991

Foreigners fled the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa as rebels closed in on the city. Israel completed Operation Solomon, which had evacuated 15,000 Ethiopian Jews to their promised land.

1992

Career US diplomat Philip Habib died in Puligny-Montrachet, France, at age 72.

1992

Jay Leno made his debut as permanent host of NBC's The Tonight Show succeeding Johnny Carson.

1993

The White House announced it was putting five fired employees of its travel office on paid leave as it investigated accusations of financial mismanagement.

1993

The Boston Pops backed up James Taylor in a concert to be videotaped for later broadcast. The program included the title music from the move Jurassic Park

1994

The U.N. Security Council lifted a 10-year-old ban on weapons exports from South Africa, scrapping the last of its apartheid-era embargoes.

President Clinton, honoring the men and women who died in military service, used his weekly radio address to defend America's global military role, saying it "is making our people safer and the world more secure."

1997

In the first round of parliamentary elections, French voters gave the leftist opposition the biggest share of votes in a surprising setback for President Jacques Chirac's conservatives.

1997

Senator Strom Thurmond (Republican, South Carolina) became the longest-serving senator in US history, marking 41 years and ten months of service.

1998

Leaders in the former Soviet republic of Georgia and its breakaway province of Abkhazia agreed to a cease-fire after a week

1998

Indonesia's new president, B.J. Habibie, promised to hold elections.

1999

Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr decided against re-prosecuting Whitewater figure Susan McDougal and Julie Hiatt Steele, a witness in the Monica Lewinsky investigation, after both their trials ended with hung juries.

2000

The government proposed a rating system telling consumers how prone vehicles are to rolling over.

2000

Iranian state radio announced that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani had resigned from the incoming parliament, depriving hard-liners of a leading figure in the power struggle between conservatives and reformists.

2005

London's Millennium Dome to become a concert arena

2005

First pipeline opens from Caspian Sea

2005

Amnesty International calls for Guantanamo shutdown

2005

Controversial Judge Priscilla Owen approved for seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court

2005

Bird flu may infect 20 percent of world's population, kill millions

2006

Pakistani immigrant convicted of N.Y. subway plot

2006

Indo-Pakistan talks on Siachen end in deadlock

2006

Fighting in Dili continues ahead of multinational deployment

2006

U.S. appeals court upholds Honolulu aerial ad ban

2006

Howard's revival of nuclear debate "surprising": Political expert

2006

Australian Government under pressure to reveal nuclear sites

2006

Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling found guilty

2006

Family narrowly escapes fiery death in Christchurch, New Zealand

2006

Taylor Hicks crowned American Idol winner

2006

Appeals Court asked for quick decision in California High School Exit Exam case

2006

Malaysian culture minister pans documentary

2006

Trains grind to a halt in Northeast US

2006

Zogby poll finds 45% want new 9/11 investigation

2007

Man attempts to bring 700 snakes onto a plane

2007

Ostankino Tower catches fire in Moscow

2007

Protesters turn their backs on Australian PM

2007

New environmental housing regulations for Western Australia

2007

US President Bush nominates new surgeon general

2007

Pentagon report reflects concerns over China's increased military

2007

Illinois law means end to horse slaughter in US

2007

McDonald's petitions Oxford English Dictionary to remove the word McJob

2007

Bird defecates on Bush in front of reporters

2007

Exclusive interview with New Zealand republican, Lewis Holden

2008

South Africa's largest weekly newspaper wants President Mbeki to resign

2008

Former vice president of Democratic Republic of Congo arrested on charges of war crimes

2008

2007/08 UEFA Women's Cup: FFC Frankfurt vs. UmeÃ¥ IK

2008

Major League Soccer: Toronto FC vs. D.C. United

2008

Eleven days later, a survivor pulled from rubble after Chinese earthquake

2008

Dima Bilan wins the Eurovision Song Contest for Russia

2008

French fry 'king' J. R. Simplot dies at age 99

2008

Missiles fly out of control during air base fire in Russia

2008

Boeing 747 cargo plane breaks in two after failed takeoff at Brussels Airport

2009

Trial against Church of Scientology begins in France

2009

North Korea conducts test of nuclear weapon

2009

Cyclone in Bay of Bengal kills at least 17

2010

6.5 magnitude earthquake hits Acre, Brazil

2010

Slipknot bassist Paul Gray found dead in hotel room at age 38

2010

Washington politician Dino Rossi to announce US Senate bid

2010

Ukrainian basketball player Alexander Belostenny dies at age 51

2010

Musician David Byrne sues Florida governor over campaign song

2010

Oil spilled after ships collide in Singapore

2010

New BP oil spill plan

2011

Expedition 27 crew successfully returns to Earth

2011

NATO intensifies attack on Libya

2013

Rugby union: Noosa thrash Caloundra in Caloundra

In the early days of Unix, a date-tagged list of historical events
was used by system administrators to add some interest to the system's
Message of the Day. Whenever users logged in they would be presented
with the latest system notices, perhaps some mildly amusing quotes and
one or two lines of historical events, based on the current date.

Today in History (UNIX calendar) uses some of the
entries from the original library but is updated with current events as well.
Instead of plain text, each entry is now formatted in HTML and
each day may include one or more icons of historical figures or celebrities.

Other things unique to the UNIX calendar are references to dates
found in fictional literature such as Lord of the Rings,
perhaps undue emphasis on people and events that were part of
popular culture in the 70's and technical minutiae about computers
and operating systems that might not be found in other places.

In association with Amazon, this symbol is a link to
related products at amazon.com. Any proceeds resulting from the sales of these products
are used to defray the cost of maintaining the Today in History site
and editorial efforts.